The Kraken, Rum Bottle Package Redesign

I saw this project on Behance and had to write about it. I had to write about it mostly because I had heard of The Kraken Rum(pronounced with a pirate-esque accent: “zeh Kraken,” just kidding) for the first time over the weekend. I hate rum, but since this particular rum had such an amazing name(a kraken is a giant monstrous mythical octopus-like sea creature) and bottle I decided I should give it a shot. Well I still hated it, but that isn’t the point, the point is the bottle.

Cedrik Ferrer of San Francisco decided to redesign the current The Kraken Rum bottle(seen in the first photo below on the left) for his Design 3 class. Choosing The Kraken was a bold and uh interesting choice. It is a bold choice because the original bottle isn’t so bad, in fact I would say its quite good. Additionally, it is an interesting choice because the alcoholic beverage industry is not short of not-so-pretty bottles that are just begging to be made over–The Kraken’s not being one of them.

Nonetheless, Ferrer did an excellent job of taking an already neat package design to the next level. Read his summary of the project below:

This project is from my package design 3 class, where we were asked to make up or redesign an alcohol packaging. I have chosen to redesign The Kraken Rum as a good challenge, and to reinterpret the inspiring mythical sea beast. My goal is to preserve the brand identity and to create something new through the integration of stylized typography and my illustration. I kept their original logo with a little changes, and the existing creative bottle to keep the product’s unique identity.

My design objectives are: 1) To transform the Kraken illustration into a unique alcohol label combined with the brand. 2) connect the design into the creative bottle through a rubdown/color transfer technique. 3) Create a system of different new products such as the premium white rum, clear box, flask, and mini bottles, to reflect the design diversity and consistency of the story. Lastly, I’ve attempted to create a sculpture to fully unleash the Kraken! 😉